Religion Briefs

Associated Press Published: January 11, 2013 4:00 AM

UK jails mom for killing son over Quran study

Associated Press

LONDON -- A British judge has sentenced a woman portrayed as a "devoted and loving mother" to at least 17 years in prison for beating her son to death after he failed to memorize passages from the Quran.

Sara Ege was convicted last month of murdering 7-year-old Yaseen and burning his body to destroy the evidence. Judge Wyn Willians said Ege beat Yaseen repeatedly over several months. He said that on the day he died Yaseen had been kept home from school to memorize verses from the Muslim holy book, and that his failure "was the trigger for the beating" that killed him.

The judge accepted the defense's argument that the India-born Ege was "a devoted and loving mother" who suffered from depression and domestic violence. Still, he said Monday, she subjected her son to "prolonged cruelty."

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Worst persecutors in world are named

LONDON, Ont. -- North Korea continues to be the worst country in the world to be a Christian, according to the new World Watch List released by Open Doors USA. The list ranks North Korea as the world's worst persecutor of Christians for the 11th year in a row, followed by eight nations where Open Doors said "extreme Islam poses the largest threat for Christians," led by Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Medgar Evers' widow to offer invocation

WASHINGTON -- Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, is expected to deliver the invocation at President Barack Obama's second inauguration on Jan. 21. The inauguration falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.